CA forges biometrics alliance

Computer Associates has signed on with New York DataTreasury to provide CA customers with biometric security systems for online transactions.

The two companies have agreed to integrate DataTreasury's biometric authentication repository technology, which is compatible with any biometric technology, into CA's eTrust security products, the companies announced Tuesday.

The eTrust product will be device-independent, and the method of biometric identification, which can be anything from fingerprint recognition to retina scanning, would be "based on the relationship [the customer] has with the other biometric player," said Ken Ballou, senior vice president, channel security for CA.

"As we move more to a wireless society, there's increasing need for physical validation of a transaction," Ballou said. "We're tied to the success of the Internet, so anything we can do to increase that helps us."

The two companies will also team up to provide security products that help healthcare organizations comply with the security and privacy regulations under the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the companies said in a statement.

The decision to move into biometric authentication was "a mix between us, the OEM community, resellers and so on," Ballou said.

CA said many of its large customers had requested the move to biometric security, but declined to identify them. "A lot of this deals with them getting a competitive advantage," Ballou said.

CA, in Islandia, N.Y., can be reached at +1-516-342-5224 or www.cai.com/. DataTreasury, in Melville, N.Y., can be reached at +1-631-385-5500, or at http://datatreasury.com/.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.